It’s traditional for Hindus to die at home

It is believed that a person's level of consciousness at the time of death has a significant impact on how they will be in the afterlife. It is also customary for Hindus to pass away at home, where they can be more easily accompanied by loved ones and friends who can help create a spiritual environment favorable to aiding a soul quit the body in an auspicious manner. Of course, loved ones try to foster a spiritual environment as best they can as individuals are dying in hospitals increasingly frequently, whether by necessity or choice.

To die while focusing on a favorite mantra that summons the Divine is the aim of the departed. Loved ones encourage the dying by singing hymns and prayers and reading from the Bible because it's normal for the dying to lose control of their faculties, especially the capacity to concentrate. A family member will typically softly say the chosen mantra in the person's ear until they go completely asleep and stop breathing, which signals the approach of death.

It also brings good fortune to swig a few spoonfuls of water from the Ganges, an Indian river that is revered. Since the personified deity of Ganga is revered as a Divine entity, her presence at the time of death aids in ensuring a soul's passage to a subsequent existence with favorable spiritual circumstances.